Great question Brendon, and congratulations on taking this step in your development.

So, I'd hate to sound like the parroting type (So I will only briefly)

If you've reviewed the material located here on the NetApp University, it gives you some 'high level' concepts you address and look at:

NS0 153 Storage Networking

NS0 163 Data Protection Solutions

Now that I've gotten that out of the way.  There is no short-cut for practical experience, so having that is a wealth of importance in helping you sit these exams.

Because these are particularly "Practical" exams, understanding the fundamentals ways in how certain things work directly will benefit you (read: know CLI syntax)

I find when I teach others how to prepare for exams, we can take the baseline of the "Skills Tested" as cited in those links and look at each line.

Ask yourself, is there any question in your mind you would not be prepared for while covering that particular course material.

If you run primarily FCP, and iSCSI and don't do too much CIFS or NFS, you'll want to make sure you're well-rounded.   The same can apply for the reverse.

Alternatively, if you have a strong foundation of working with say Snapmirrors, but have never touched OSSV or SnapLock, you'll want to make sure that your training and education reflects that so you're prepared and not walking in blind.

Short of telling you the questions and answers (Which I'm not going to do here :)) the best preparation is being well rounded, practical, able to think on your feet, and able to succinctly explain the technology and skillsets as defined in those "Skills Tested" area - You will thank yourself for it later :)

Let us know how your testing goes Brendon!  Look forward to hearing from you!

Christopher

Working exclusively from the commandline has its benefits - But I would never be one to dismiss the sheer value and benefits that Filerview has to offer.

I'm a CLI guy by trade, have been for years "Can I get verbose with that?"

However, when I want to do a one-off step, Filerview will be your best friend.  And if I want to do something 15 times, or 100 times and want to script it.  Filerview for the first time (If its been awhile) and then script off of the end result generated via command line

I think the best thing you can do (and you're doing it) is to obtain balance in your working with the system.

Balance, and ofcourse comfort with what you're doing and accomplishing.

An ounce of CLI is worth a pound of GUI

Good luck on your exams and preparation!

Christopher

I have recently received some conflicting information about the NCDA exams 153 and 163 and was told that the exam consists of multiple choice questions. Is that correct? If not what format does the exam take? Do you get sat in front of a filer/console/etc and asked to configure certain bits?

Thank you for clarifying that!

Congradulations - I had that same issue.  I went to take 153 tuesday and when I got there the testing center guy told me they have been done for 3 weeks S0 I had to take it Sunday.

I'm working on 163 now.  So far I'm reading through the pdf documents how fun but thats how I studied for 153.  If it works dont change it.

I'm over in the states but I had that same issue with a question.  Good news is you passed too bad we will never know if we got the question correct.

Hi Cristi,

I have your message and we are reviewing the exam for a missing exhibit.

Thank you for your post

bw

Thumbed from my BlackBerry

Just a note that I got two questions like this -- one I got lucky on but the other I missed (fortunately I passed so wasn't too bent out of shape about it).

i will took the nso-153 tomorrow and two weeks ago i take the ns0-163 exam .

You need command line experience because have  i lot of questions on 163 exam .

i will say to you tomorrow how is the ns0-153.

Im experience on UNIX , Linux and Solaris and 163 exam its just easy if you put your hand on the CLI .

good luck for you and me  :P

Great !

I come from the ns0-153 , i pass , so now i have both exams pass .

For the ns0-163 read about metrocluster because are i lot of question of that .

Good luck !

keep in touch and tell us when you go to the exam .

thanks gonzalo,

Will take note on your tips about metrocluster....

Im still doing some reviews base on my ILT course manual..

hopefully I could take the exam on otctober 8, 2008.

Regards,

tons

hmmm..

there's a change of plan..instead of working first on NCSA-BR, I will work on with NCIE-BR then NCSA-BR..

New Hire Training Materials will help a  lot. While Reading these documentations, note very important one line information on network, snapshot, snapmirror, snapvault, metroclusters, sync mirror, ONTAP features and so on..

Create your own questions and see if you can answer them using the notes you have.

That helps you a lot.

dont worry , next time!

Hi Brendon

A walk in the park for you next time.

Fraser

Hey I need the study materials for NCDA, can you help me on this???

-Ravi

Hi Brendon,

I highly suggest taking the High Availability web-based course when studying for the 163 exam. There are about 5 or so questions on MetroCluster that are often missed. The other course that ties very closely to the exam, is the NetApp Protection Software Administration course. It is currently available in a classroom.

Skills Tested:

• Set up and maintain Snapshot™ copies
• Configure and administer SnapRestore
• Configure and administer Asynchronous SnapMirror
• Configure and administer Synchronous SnapMirror
• Configure and administer Open System SnapVault
• Configure and administer Operations Manager.
• Configure and administer SnapLock®
• Analyze and resolve data protection problems
• Implement active-active controller configuration, SyncMirror, and MetroCluster to ensure continuous data availability in the enterprise and rapid recovery of data in the event of a disaster

Hope this helps Good Luck.

Brenda

Thanks Brenda and Brendon for your help and resources.!

Congrats mate!

Hi All

Just passed the NSO-153 last week and notice a few questions on Ontap 7.3. Anyone taken 163 recently and had same experience?

Would it be best to study the 7.3 guides rather than 7.2?

any pointers for 153?  Well  I'm going to take the test tomorrow so i guess by its either i know it or I dont but every little bit helps.  I've been through the study guide on here as well as made my own study guide from the file access and protocols and block access docs.

Thanks

I have been a thread lurker for a while but I wanted to announce I finally passed the 163.

So I saw stuff from 7.2 and 7.3 plus some of the questions were straight from the WBT modules that are free so pay attention to the skills assessments at the end of those modules!!! Read all the associated  docs as well (all mentioned in this thread)

The study guide in this thread is good but you should look the info up as well. Just memorizing the study guide here will not help. You need to understand the fundamentals so research every line in the study guide and you will get that.

Also I found that if the question had info I never covered (protection manager or whatever) I was able to figure stuff out when I stuck to the basics. That is I walked thru what they were asking and if an answer didn't make sense I threw it out. That helps on most questions but keep in mind cli commands are asked so have an idea of those (hint the wbt mentions some the docs mention the rest)

good luck

Passed 153!  Time to study for 163

Has anyone done with NCIE-SAN?

Will be doing it in the next couple weeks hopefully -- I actually took the beta test cold (no study...it was free and I couldn't afford the study time but figured I might well as try since it was free)...only missed by 1 question so am optimistic I should be able to pass now given having studied for/passed both NCDA tests since then (and also have a 2 day 501 prep class this week taught by Steve Botkins).

All,

I passed quite a few exams one year ago, did the NCDA and was ready to go for next level. I passed another 3 exams I think and it was

abruptly halted by the "security" exam which in fact is a decru exam. I am frustrated by the fact that this product is one I have never

seen anywhere in real life (I have had 4-5 customers the last 3 years) and I feel that it will stop most people into getting certified to the next level.

I think the decru exam will be one hinder most people probably wont bother with in chasing the next level. call me lazy but on top of BAU, project work,

a bit of help on forums etc, I cant be bothered reading a 350 page PDF that will take me to the next level whilst having no exposure to this product.

My 2 pennies worth,

Eric

So....the reason I've been a bit quiet the last week is that aside from normal work I was cramming in my NCDA tests. I took 153 last Thursday and passed without much trouble. 163 was this afternoon....was a bit harder but not too bad given study time and a good bit of hands-on experience.

On to 501 soon (I'm going to a 2 day prep class for it this week actually)....our company is aiming to become an APSP so needed to get these out of the way.

Hi Anantha,

The NetApp Certified Storage Architect exams have been under review for the past few months. During this analysis the exam program descriptions were removed from the NetApp corporate website, yet the exams have still been available at Prometric Test Centers. The few candidates who have successfully passed these exams, have earned a distinguished industry recognition.

The analysis results have provided us the following next steps which support specialist accreditation programs for systems engineers. Accreditation programs are available to NetApp employees and those participating in NetApp Partner Programs.

•     NS0-301 NCSA SAN exam: The SAN exam is under redesign and will re-launch later this calendar year

     New Program: NetApp Accredited SAN Specialist (NASANS)

•     NS0-310 NCSA Business Continuity exam: This exam will re-launch later this calendar year supporting the Backup and Recovery Specialization program

     New Program: NetApp Accredited Backup and Recovery Specialist (NABRS)

•     NS0-320 NCSA Disaster Recovery exam: This exam will re-launch later this calendar year supporting the Disaster Recovery Specialization program

     New Program: NetApp Accredited Disaster Recovery Specialist (NADRS)

•     NS0-330 NCSA Security exam: This exam will retire – effective July 31st, 2009.

     NCSA Security program will be combined with the NetApp Certified Storage Security Implementation Engineer program. Effective August 1st, NS0-330 exam holders may download their NCIE: NetApp Security certificate from the NetApp Certification Tracking Database

The NCSA exams will enter End of Availability (EOA) status on July 31, 2009 and will no longer be available at Prometric Test Centers. Visit the Accreditation section in the Field Portal for new program information in early Q2.

The existing NCSA exams were focused on pre-Sales skills more than pure storage architecture. Their origin was to provide support to the incredible fast growth of NetApp as a company and in the analysis, the relevance for the customer has not been optimal. This was the primary decision trigger in moving these exams to robust accreditations in support of the NetApp Partner Programs.

For customers, we are reviewing the Specialist exams in the Certification program to support both the architecting and implementation areas. Customers are very important to our Certification program and I am always glad to hear your voice and suggestions. Thank you.

Brenda Wright

Director of Technical Training

NetApp University